


the night is long

by khayr



Category: Dragon Age: Inquisition
Genre: Drabble, F/M, picking up the pieces
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-09-12
Updated: 2015-09-12
Packaged: 2018-04-20 08:39:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 717
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4780913
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/khayr/pseuds/khayr
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>She still didn’t understand.</p>
            </blockquote>





	the night is long

**Author's Note:**

  * For [sievish](https://archiveofourown.org/users/sievish/gifts).



> A gift drabble for a long-time friend of mine! She romanced Solas with her Inquisitor Saeris, so this is just a quick look into one of those long nights following Corypheus' defeat. Writing another person's character is really challenging, but she approved so I figured I would share with everyone here! Enjoy!

When Saeris woke in the middle of the night, she swore she was not alone.   
  
Her palm flickered to life with a spark of electricity, the eerie blue light casting dancing shadows around the room. A soft breeze came through the open window, ruffling the pages of the books scattered everywhere in her chambers… but it was otherwise silent.    
  
A soft exhale escaped her, shoulders slackening. Was it relief that washed over her? Or something else? Her chest ached. Rubbing the rest of the sleep from her eyes she glanced to the book in her lap again, thumbing through the pages in search of where she had left off. Something about… maybe… no. Saeris snapped the book shut, tossing it to the end of her bed with a disgruntled sound. She’d figure it out in the morning.   
  
The weeks following Corypheus’ defeat had been hell for her. Still reeling from Solas’ harsh end to their relationship, there hadn’t been enough time for her to decompress and come to terms with what had happened when she’d been dragged back to the battlefield again. Only this time… he hadn’t been there when they returned. Instead she’d been pushed from one public appearance to the next, greeting nobles whose names hardly mattered to her and thoroughly wishing she was elsewhere. She still didn’t understand.   
  
That was where she was at now that things had quieted down... trying and failing to find why he had been able to drop what they had together so easily. Had he viewed it a temporary thing, while she poured her heart and soul between them? Perhaps he’d seen her at her most vulnerable and felt as if she were too much effort. Of course there had been times when they’d disagreed, arguments over the Dalish people and the tattoos on her cheeks but  never  had she seen this coming. Although… no, no. He had definitely felt something, and the lingering memory of their last kiss together in the Fade was all she had to hang on to that thought.   
  
Saeris groaned, rubbing her hands over her face before she resigned to swing her legs out of bed, padding across the cool stone to put on a pot of tea. If she was going to be awake the rest of the night, it might as well be worthwhile.   
  
Even her dreams had not been the same as of late, and the Fade felt emptier now that she did not walk there with Solas as their bodies slept away. She had wrapped him into so many aspects of her life and now… now she had to figure everything out on her own. He had  abandoned  her right when she needed him and it stung worse than winter in the Frostbacks.   
  
She sat down at her desk once her tea was ready, gulping down a few mouthfuls before setting the mug aside. It was still a tad too hot and it scalded her throat on the way down, but the warmth in her stomach soothed her some. Saeris leaned back in the chair, eyes staring out into the night beyond her open window. Her free hand found a rounded stone set on the edge of her desk, fingers sliding it into her palm where it lay cool against the anchor there. She sat like this for a while, rolling the trinket around in her grip and contemplating her cup of tea. Silent meditation helped push some of the pervasive thoughts away, even if only for a little while.   
  
He wasn’t coming back, and somehow she was going to have to come to terms with that.   
  
A soft flutter of wings met her ears, and a raven settled on the windowsill. It clacked its beak expectantly, shuffling towards her until she carefully removed the letter tied to its leg.    
  
‘ Either go back to bed, or come entertain me in the library. -D ’   
  
Saeris chuckled quietly, rubbing the raven’s chest before it took flight back the direction it had come from. Perhaps that was what she needed in this moment- a new book and a willing listener. She grabbed a shawl from the end of her bed, wrapping it around her shoulders as she descended the stairs.   
  
She was far from alright, but she could push in the right direction.


End file.
